One-Eyed Scarecrow MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Artifact Creature — Scarecrow
Abilities	Defender
Released	2011-09-30
Set symbol
Set name	Innistrad
Set code	ISD
Power	2
Toughness	3
Number	230
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Dave Kendall

Key Takeaways

Disrupts opponents’ flying creature tactics, enhancing your defensive game and helping maintain battlefield balance.
Defensive capabilities extend gameplay, allowing for mana growth and spell deployment, crucial for long-term strategy.
While not instant-speed, its permanent deterrence against flyers offers a passive yet persistent battlefield presence.

Text of card

Defender Creatures with flying your opponents control get -1/-0.

Farmhands and priests mutter curses at the ragged thing; it unnerves more than just the crows.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: While One-Eyed Scarecrow doesn’t directly influence your hand, it has the potential to disrupt the card advantage of opponents relying on flying creatures by diminishing their offensive impact, indirectly maintaining parity on the battlefield.

Resource Acceleration: Although One-Eyed Scarecrow isn’t inherently a card that accelerates resources, its defensive application can help you preserve life points, effectively buying you time to access more mana and deploy game-changing spells.

Instant Speed: One-Eyed Scarecrow isn’t an instant-speed spell. However, its mere presence on the board is an instant deterrent, a passive ability that is always on, dissuading opponents from attacking with their flyers as long as the Scarecrow stands guard.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One of the drawbacks of the One-Eyed Scarecrow is that its presence on the battlefield does not inherently require a discard, yet it doesn’t offset the downside of discarding cards from other gameplay mechanics. In decks that are not synergistically built around discard strategies, this could lead to a disadvantage.

Specific Mana Cost: The card requires a precise mana cost with one generic and two color-specific mana (2 colorless, 1 green), which could potentially limit your deck-building options if your strategy does not usually include green mana sources.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of three mana, the One-Eyed Scarecrow might be considered costly for its abilities. When assessing its role as a supporting card in the game, players might find more efficient alternatives for managing flying threats or those seeking to optimize their mana curve.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: One-Eyed Scarecrow has a unique place in many deck types, notably those keen on defending against flying creatures. It offers a cost-effective way to bolster defenses, especially in limited formats where flyers can dominate.

Combo Potential: This card synergizes well with decks that emphasize on creature-based strategies and can be a tool for enabling intricate board states where every point of damage mitigation counts.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where flying creatures are prevalent, One-Eyed Scarecrow’s passive ability to reduce incoming damage can turn the tides. It’s a strategic sideboard option against decks that lean heavily on airborne offense.

How to beat

One-Eyed Scarecrow presents an interesting challenge in Magic: The Gathering, primarily due to its defensive capabilities. This artifact creature is particularly effective against decks that rely heavily on flyers, reducing their damage by one. This unique attribute can throw a wrench into the traditional aggro-flying strategy, forcing opponents to reconsider their approach.

Counteracting the Scarecrow’s influence requires a shift in tactics. Removal spells that can bypass its damage reduction ability, like Murder or Doom Blade, are efficient tools for taking it off the board. Board wipes, such as Day of Judgment or Supreme Verdict, are also impervious to its damage-reducing capability, resetting the field entirely. Alternatively, focusing on non-flying creature strategies or utilizing creature buffs to overpower the Scarecrow can render its ability inconsequential, preserving your deck’s offensive momentum.

Adapting to the presence of the One-Eyed Scarecrow on the battlefield can turn the tide of the game. Effectively blending creature control with strategic combat maneuvers ensures that your strategy remains unhampered by this peculiar Guardian of the field.

Cards like One-Eyed Scarecrow

The One-Eyed Scarecrow is a unique defensive artifact creature in MTG with a special knack for deterring flying creatures. It draws a parallel with cards like Thunderstaff, which similarly reduces damage from creatures attacking in groups. Where Thunderstaff shines by dampening the impact of swarm attacks, One-Eyed Scarecrow focuses solely on creatures with flying, docking their offense by 1.

There’s also the comparison with Gravity Well, which removes flying creatures’ advantage altogether by forcing them to engage in land battles when they attack. However, the One-Eyed Scarecrow allows flying creatures their aerial superiority but weakens their combat effectiveness, a more strategic and less total approach to handling skies filled with winged threats.

While each card offers distinct approaches to dealing with flying aggressors, One-Eyed Scarecrow stands out for its creature body, providing a presence on the board that can both block and passively hinder enemy flyers. This combination of utility and board impact makes the One-Eyed Scarecrow a tactical choice for defenders in MTG, especially in formats where the skies are a battlefield of their own.

Cards similar to One-Eyed Scarecrow by color, type and mana cost

Arena of the Ancients - MTG Card versions

Scale of Chiss-Goria - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase One-Eyed Scarecrow MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the One-Eyed Scarecrow and other MTG cards: