"Scuttling Doom Engine: when S.D.E. spells your D.O.O.M."

"Scuttling Doom Engine: when S.D.E. spells your D.O.O.M."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Scuttling Doom Engine(or SDE as it will be referred to in the rest of this blog). To say that this guy is deadly is a severe understatement. Forget that it is a 6/6 creature that could be powered out by Ornithopters and Chief Engineer by as early as turn three. Let us also forget the fact that as threats go this guy cannot be blocked by your opponents weenie blockers. Anything with power 2 or less is simply bypassed. If that is all your opponent is packing in their deck then the 6 damage per turn is assured. Calculated that is a 4 turn damage clock with just a lone SDE in play but like I said forget about that.

In order for an opponent to survive an SDE , they actually have to take care of it with spot removal. The only problem is that they would need to exile it since SDE is such an annoying creature that it even deals 6 damage to you once it dies. Normal removal that is available in abundance in Black, Red and Green now begins to look as a downside since this construct seems unstoppable when it comes to dishing out damage. During the M15 Prerelease where I attended one player was able to get two of these babies and won a lot of games.Lucky me. I wasn't paired up with him.

One potential finishing blow with the SDE involves a reprint from the original Mirrodin block.The awesome Shrapnel blast. An instant speed 5 damage dealing spell that requires an artifact sacrifice. So imagine attacking with your SDE , 6 damage. Casting a Shrapnel blast which deals 5 damage and then activating the trigger for SDE once it is sacrificed and dies , which gives you another 6 damage to dish out. 17 points of damage in one play! This makes your opponent within Lightning Strike damage. Oh yeah , aside from being in Theros . Lightning Strike also finds its way in M15 so it will stick around longer even after Theros rotates out. This is just in standard.

"Can this guy give you 13 points of damage in one turn with the SDE? Of course he can..."

Imagine how deadly SDE would be in the EDH setting where a lot of sacrifice outlets and recursions are abundant. You could Fling this guy for more damage than with Shrapnel blast of Goblin Grenade. 18 damage seems like a great thing. Imagine it going to town with a Mikaeus the Unhallowed and coming back for another round of pain dealing.SDE could attack for 7 damage thanks to the stat pump of +1/+1 grandpa zombie there , you could sacrifice SDE for 6 damage and comes back to be an 8/8 Monster. The next turn it could net you 14 points of damage. If you have something that removes +1/+1 counters you could just keep on sacrificing SDE for 6 damage per pop.In an EDH game , 7 sacrifices later and an opponent is dead. Repeat till you are the only player drawing breathe.Yup , I could just see people waiting for you SDE. And hopefully when you spell D.O.O.M. its for the other guy.