Sea God's Scorn MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	6
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Sorcery
Released	2020-01-24
Set symbol
Set name	Theros Beyond Death
Set code	THB
Number	63
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Zoltan Boros

Key Takeaways

It disrupts opponents by bouncing three creatures, potentially shifting the board’s balance in your favor.
Instant speed allows strategic timing to maximize the impact of its bounce effect.
The need to discard a card and specific mana requirements can limit its versatility.

Text of card

Return up to three target creatures and/or enchantments to their owners' hands.

Instead of performing their daily devotions, Heliod's acolytes spent the morning picking strands of kelp off the altar.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Sea God’s Scorn enables you to return three target creatures to their owners’ hands, disrupting your opponent’s battlefield presence while maintaining your own. This swing in board state can translate into a significant card advantage, as you can potentially negate multiple threats with a single card.

Resource Acceleration: By bouncing your own permanents with enter-the-battlefield effects, you can re-use those effects to generate additional value. In essence, Sea God’s Scorn can indirectly accelerate your resources by granting you extra uses of your creatures’ powerful abilities. This sets the stage for powerful plays in the subsequent turns.

Instant Speed: The capability to cast Sea God’s Scorn at instant speed grants enormous strategic flexibility. You can wait until the most impactful moment during your opponent’s turn to cast it, potentially saving yourself from lethal attacks or disrupting intricate combat tricks. This surprise factor can tilt the game in your favor when timed perfectly.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Sea God’s Scorn comes with a contingent action that might be unforgiving for players. In a situation where your hand is already depleted, the necessity to discard another card can push you into a tough spot, forcing you to make compromises you’d rather avoid.

Specific Mana Cost: The card demands a precise combination of mana types which can be a deck building constraint, specifically requiring blue mana. Players running multicolor decks might find it challenging to muster the needed blue mana, reducing the card’s general applicability across diverse deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its mana cost on the higher end, Sea God’s Scorn could potentially slow down your momentum. In fast-paced matchups where efficiency is key, you may find this card sitting in your hand while you wait for enough resources, which could instead be utilized for deploying threats or establishing board control.

Reasons to Include Sea God’s Scorn in Your Collection

Versatility: Sea God’s Scorn offers a powerful bounce effect that can clear a cluttered battlefield. This card is a great fit for blue-based control decks or any strategy that wants to reset the board, delay opponent’s plans, or protect its own interests.

Combo Potential: By returning creatures to the hand, this card synergizes with enter-the-battlefield effects, allowing you to recast valuable creatures for their abilities. It also works well with cards that capitalize on casting spells or targeting opponents’ permanents.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where board states often become heavily populated, Sea God’s Scorn acts as a reset button. It offers an edge against creature-heavy decks, keeping the tempo in your favor and disrupting your opponents’ finely laid plans.

How to beat

Sea God’s Scorn can pose a real challenge on the battlefield with its ability to return up to three target creatures and/or enchantments to their owner’s hands. As a tempo play, it can seriously set back an opponent’s board presence and strategy. It’s a comeback mechanic akin to Cyclonic Rift, yet balanced by only affecting up to three targets and at sorcery speed, which makes preparation against it crucial for players.

To effectively counter this card, consider playing with instant-speed spells that can protect your key pieces or spells that grant your permanents hexproof or indestructible for the turn. Dive Down or Heroic Intervention, for instance, can be game-changers in response to Sea God’s Scorn. Moreover, cards like Negate or Mystical Dispute thrive in their ability to counter noncreature spells, providing a direct answer to Sea God’s Scorn and ensuring your board state remains undisturbed.

By anticipating your opponent’s moves, maintaining mana for responses, and smartly navigating around their potential for a reset, you can turn a potential setback from Sea God’s Scorn into a strategic advantage, solidifying your presence in the game and paving the way towards victory.

Cards like Sea God's Scorn

In the landscape of Magic: The Gathering, Sea God’s Scorn is a spell that players can use to regain control of the board. It bears resemblance to various bounce spells, commanding the power to send creatures back to their owners’ hands. A notable parallel is to Evacuation, enabling players to clear the board of creatures at instant speed. While Evacuation affects all creatures, Sea God’s Scorn is more selective, offering a targeted approach to handling opponents’ threats.

Another card in comparison is Devastation Tide, which provides a sweeping effect similar to Sea God’s Scorn. Devastation Tide not only returns creatures but all nonland permanents to owners’ hands, at the cost of five mana or its miracle cost. While Sea God’s Scorn is focused on creatures, the broader reach of Devastation Tide can be a game-changer. Cyclonic Rift also deserves a mention; it can be an instant-speed mass bounce or a single-target removal depending on the mana spent, giving players flexibility in their control strategies.

Assessing these alternatives, Sea God’s Scorn stands its ground in MTG due to its ability to disrupt opponent strategies while selectively preserving your board state, making it a strategic option in blue-centric control decks.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Sea God's Scorn MTG card by a specific set like Theros Beyond Death, 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 Sea God's Scorn and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Sea God's Scorn has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Penny	Legal
Timeless	Legal