Scuttling Doom Engine

[Demagoguery]

Here's a card I'm surprised hasn't had a thread yet:

Scuttling Doom Engine       6

Artifact Creature - Construct

~ can't be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less.

When ~ dies, it deals 6 damage to target opponent.

6/6

So it has a solid body, and some relevant abilities. The first question is obviously what would make you want to play it over a Wurmcoil Engine. The first answer to that would be that it's a better aggressive creature since most things in Vintage can't block it, meaning that it's more likely to connect than Wurmcoil, and while gaining life can be pretty big it still leaves you dead if they combo off with Vault, and thus the ability to put out damage can be better while also dodging things like Strix or Ophiomancer tokens. The second answer would be that there are times when this has a better dying trigger than Wurmcoil. Sacrificing a Wurmcoil while facing down a TNN isn't going to do much since they can just block the tokens, while sacrificing this can easily end the game since it does a fair amount of damage. Additionally, this is better in the case that they have something like Energy Flux or something along the lines of Chewer + EE.

I'd still say that Wurmcoil is the better overall creature, but if you're going for something like Cat Shops, this guy can easily be a strong contender since he's a pretty solid aggressive creature that can do some fun things with cards like Welder or even Forgemaster. Cloning him with Metamorph or Image is also just rather brutal since you're pretty much instantly dead if it connects once at that point and your removal kills it instead of bouncing it or exiling it, unlike Wurmcoil which gives you an extra turn usually.

[TheWhiteDragon]

I think the trick with this guy is using welder and some kind of sac outlet.  Keep bringing him back for a couple turns and deal 18 to the dome.  I can see this in some funky ensnaring bridge build as the finisher.  You're either swinging with a 6/6, and if bridge has the battelfield on lockdown, you have a 6/6 wall for the smaller critters that can swing under bridge and can do welder tricks to keep donkey-punching the opponent for 6.

[MaximumCDawg]

And the award for most hilarious name for a shops creature goes to...

Anyway, this guy doesn't even seem as good as Soul of New Phyrexia.  A 6/6 for 6 which can't be chumped and gives you value when he hits the yard seems clearly inferior to Wurmcoil Engine.  At least Soul gave you a unique, counterspell-like effect.

I think he's a cool as a combo piece if you have some way to repeatedly kill him.  Welder is fine, but ideally you want to be cycling him in and out of the yard several times quickly to just end the game.  Otherwise, Welding your Wurmcoil back repeatedly does something almost as good.  Is there any way to churn this back and forth out of the yard in a single turn?

[vaughnbros]

I think the trick with this guy is using welder and some kind of sac outlet.  Keep bringing him back for a couple turns and deal 18 to the dome.  I can see this in some funky ensnaring bridge build as the finisher.  You're either swinging with a 6/6, and if bridge has the battelfield on lockdown, you have a 6/6 wall for the smaller critters that can swing under bridge and can do welder tricks to keep donkey-punching the opponent for 6.

Yeh ensnaring bridge seems like a really good reason to play it over existing options.

If you have an easy way to sacrifice it, ravager/welder, due to its evasion it can be much faster than myr battlesphere and every other artifact creature near its mana cost.

[Protoaddict]

It feels like its more for combo than a standard workshops deck, and the list of positives and minuses on both sides are pretty large.

I think forgemaster shops should certainly splash one or more of these instead of wurmcoil to test the engine as it has both search and sac outlets. I'm not sure about standard shops though as this does not do more damage than wurmcoil without a sac outlet, in which case wurmcoils benefits are more pronounced. Wurmcoil is also better in a deck with or facing smokestack and against tangle wire.

[Demagoguery]

I think you guys are trying to be way too cute with this guy, when he's really just a solid dude that can do a lot of work.  Comparing this at all to Soul of New Phyrexia is pretty silly since this card is way better. I do agree that this wouldn't be a standard Workshop card, aside from being splashed or boarded, but I don't think it would be a combo card either, rather it would make more sense in a Shop list that was more aggro oriented. After all, it's a turn 2-3 pseudo-unblockable 6/6 that domes your opponent for 6 when it dies, that's pretty beefy. Additionally let's look at some of the differences between this and Wurmcoil:

1.) While he has the same body as Wurmcoil, he actually does more damage to your opponent because he's unblockable in most match ups outside of other Shop decks, and against Storm where they can't block and the life gain becomes more relevant. A Wurmcoil can be chumped by most things.

2.) He's potentially better against Welder, which is becoming more popular with the printing of Dack and the lists we've seen taking top 8 spots lately. A Welder in conjunction to a Revoker completely negates Wurmcoil, this is not the case with this guy, and he does more than a Wurmcoil when it's welded EoT and then the tokens are bounced or Welded into moxen or what not.

3.) He is not necessarily worse against Wire/Smokestack, because Wurmcoil gives them more time to dig out more answers and can be blocked by a Revoker. He can also still win through a Wire/Stack lock with his trigger if they're low enough, whereas sacrificing a Wurmcoil means your tokens have summoning sickness, and if they play another Wire to keep them tapped it's pretty bad. They also have more creatures that could trade with the tokens or brick wall them. The six damage can be pretty strong in that situation. You also gain more access to tricks with this guy if you have your own Wire/Smokestack.

4.) He's a lot better against cards like Moat, which are seeing more play lately, even if they're still rare.

5.) He's better against removal in certain situations, such as when they can follow up their initial removal spell on the Wurmcoil with another one to clear the tokens, or they can block the tokens after removing the main body.

6.) Blightsteel or other bots don't stop this guy from winning the game if they're at 6 or less. Additionally having two of these swinging into a Blightsteel is far stronger than two Wurmcoils.


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As a whole I will agree that a lot of those points are better or worse based on the situation, and this guy has a much narrower range of application than Wurmcoil, but in terms of providing strong pressure on a life total this guy is probably better than Wurmcoil slightly. His clock is also faster assuming you have some way to sacrifice him since that can easily shave a turn off the clock. All of these points are more to show that he has potential to be considered even with Wurmcoil existing, not to suggest this guy is better than Wurmcoil as a whole.

[serracollector]

I just wanted to point out that this guy is absolutely silly with shrapnel blast. Swing sac to blast is seventeen damage. Berzerk is good too but shrapnel blast is the same color as welder. Anyways let the serious conversation continue. End fun time vintage.