The synergy equivalent of “having your cake and eating it too.”
What is Scraps?
Scraps describes a high synergy game plan which seeks to utilize spells like Goblin Welder, Deadly Dispute, or Oswald Fiddle-Bender in tandem with low-cost of inclusion artifacts and artifact generators for value.
Scraps adjacent strategies have been experimental archetypes in Canadian Highlander since the printing of Goblin Engineer but became most apparent with the release of Kamigawa; Neon Dynasty followed by Streets of New Capenna in 2022. Within these two sets, cards like Oni-Cult Anvil and Jewel Thief represented a clear signpost for decks centering around low-cost of inclusion artifact generators. This design philosophy not only sustained itself in the following set releases, but escalated in a way that few instances of power creep have. Examples include the printing of unparalleled artifact payoffs like Broadside Bombardiers and The One Ring in 2023, and staples like Pre-War Formalwear and Carnage Interpreter printed in 2024.
Each card in many of these lists functions on its own merit. but creates themes in a game which can be exploited. Layering high card quality and synergy unlocks dozens of board-states whose whole becomes greater than the sum of their parts- often allowing for already heavy hitting cards to enter into another weight class entirely. In the case of scraps, some form of artifact generation is a key theme in deckbuilding. Various fast mana are excellent examples, their cost of inclusion is often just limited to being pointed- but their roles in the list extends beyond their own self contained acceleration. Another example of this is a card like Ivora, Insatiable Heir– whose card quality is high enough to merit inclusion in many lists devoid of further synergy.
There are exceptions, which usually occur when a synergy is so tempo positive that it refunds the loss in card quality to enable it substantially. For instance, Blood Fountain is playable in especially value driven lists because it raises the ceiling of multiple other cards very efficiently. But even among these exceptions, it’s important for the card to not be too tempo negative.
A feature derived from including so many artifact game objects is access to cards which offer above-rate effects, because their design assumes that in order to enable them you must lower your overall card quality. This balance erodes as incidental synergy continues to be printed, making cards like Deadly Dispute or Shrapnel Blast incredibly inconsequential to fuel.
These above-rate effects result in additional control over the cards on the table, which allow various shells to utilize incredibly potent effects like The One Ring or Tangle Wire with further precision. For some strategies, this additional agency is as valuable as the effects its derived from. For others, it enables better optimization of the cards already available to you. Being able to decide exactly how long any given card remains in play and being able to re-purpose it for greater value when it either becomes a detriment or is no longer relevant is an axis many other lists don’t have access to.
Why adopt a scraps game plan?
Scraps offer a very simple tradeoff to its pilot; extended reach, velocity, and versatility for fair strategies at the cost of greater vulnerability to targeted hate. In exchange for possessing an Achilles’s heels, scraps decks gain the ability to better out-muscle Turbo Aggro match ups while also being able to out-grind Control match ups. While the vulnerability remains, the emphasis on maintaining exceptional card quality mitigates it.
There are multiple ways this game plan can be executed. Here are three examples;
1) Prison Stompy; These decks utilize the additional agency scraps provided over the artifacts on board to break parity on stax pieces by tutoring, sacrificing recurring them as needed. Scraps is used as a solution to many of the problems/weaknesses this archetype has faced historically. It enables a more consistent, lower to the ground game plan which still supports the artifact themes present in historical prison deck lists. Simultaneously Scraps payoffs allow additional value to be extracted from more narrow prison pieces like Sphere of Resistance in the matchups they line up poorly against.
2) Aristoscraps; These decks are looking to grind out the game with repeated artifact recursion while using potent cantrips like deadly dispute in a tempo positive way to maintain resource dominance. The artifact synergies allow the deck to shore up the weaknesses of other slow, value driven creature lists by additional game ending interactions like Goblin welder + Chaos defiler or dramatically raising the ceiling of Urza’s Saga Constructs.
3) Scraps Aggro; these decks seek additional reach in an aggressive shell by resolving galvanic blasts, s-blasts, and raising the consistency for cards like bombardiers (whose floor can suffer in various aggressive archetypes due to lack of fuel). This is accomplished by leveraging already efficient threats which happen to either produce artifacts or are artifacts like Mukatai Soulripper or Wildfire Wickerfolk.
My name is Noah Wick and I’m a digital cardboard degenerate from Maine who is an active resource on the Canadian Highlander discord server.
Fight me on Cockatrice and tune in for daily TANGLE WIRE victories on the server!
