The oppressive era of the Shiny Purple is over, and the inmates have taken over the asylum. That’s what Scarecrow, Fearmonger told me. I’m afraid it might be true.
Amidst the widespread wailing and gnashing of teeth that has accompanied Curve Sentinels’ domination of the Vs. System metagame, one character was cursed above all others. It wasn’t Boliver Trask’s fetching finesse, Hounds of Ahab’s lockdown license, or Bastion’s pumpish personality. The single Sentinel ability that thrust the team toward its temporary throne and allowed the Shiny Purple to own the competitive environment for a short time was Nimrod’s counter.
Enter the Fearmonger.
(Editor's note: This card was printed with wording that could cause some confusion. The word “him” in the first sentence should be “Scarecrow” to read, "Whenever Scarecrow stuns a character, put a +1 ATK / +1 DEF counter on Scarecrow." This clarification will appear in the Official Card Reference.)
Scarecrow, Fearmonger introduces a terror virus into Nimrod’s internal programming at the start of the combat phase. This disconnects Nimrod’s reassembly directive and removes his counter.
The Fearmonger’s horrific germ will infect the Vs. System metagame and spread throughout the planet. Born amidst two psychopathic team affiliations, the contagion will affect hundreds of thousands of deckbuilding citizens within days. The metagame will never be the same.
As the fear and excitement sets in and we lose those weak-kneed viewers who were only here for the preview, let’s take a trip down memory lane. The year is 1941. The world is at war. Comic book myths provide an outlet for the expression of the community consciousness by exploring the deeper motives of politics and hatred. World’s Finest Comics #3 introduces a supervillain who knows that the only thing to fear is fear itself.
Jonathan Crane was a teacher at Gotham University. He was thin, scraggly, and unkempt. His clothes were tattered and worn because he spent every spare cent on his passion for books. The students made fun of him, saying that he looked like a scarecrow in a cornfield. He vowed revenge.
This professor specialized in the psychology of fear. He decided to bring a gun to school for a demonstration of sheer terror. No students were harmed, but it was a very effective lesson. Professor Crane was fired immediately.
Being forced to leave the university meant a lack of funds for supporting Crane’s literary addiction. He became desperate and turned to a life of crime. Scarecrow was born from an aching intelligence trapped in a world that didn’t understand; such genius is truly terrifying when it goes bad. Scarecrow was simply smarter than everyone else, and he could always figure out how to hurt people in the worst possible way.
Mirroring the Golden Age of DC Comics myths in which Scarecrow appeared twice in the 1940s, Vs. System now has two versions of our vicious villain. Both versions are very powerful, so they both have a recruit cost of 5. Scarecrow, Fearmonger has two of the scariest team affiliations: Arkham Inmates and Secret Society. He gains a +1 ATK/+1 DEF counter whenever he stuns a character, even as part of a team attack. He can remove a counter from any character (including himself) at the start of the combat phase and transform it into a +1 ATK/+1 DEF counter for any character you control. This is an invitation for all of our risky readers to concoct some crazy counter-abusing strategies. Let’s get to work!
Both versions of Scarecrow are decidedly deadly against the Shiny Purple. The first-ever tier 1 Sentinel deck archetype was Wild Vomit. Scarecrow, Professor Jonathan Crane is one of its arch-enemies. At Pro Circuit Indianapolis 2004, back when Marvel Origins and DC Origins were the only sets in existence, I sat across from a grinning Carl Perlas. He was playing Arkham Inmates. I had Longshot and eight Wild Sentinels in play when I used Search and Destroy to reveal Carl’s hand. I saw Scarecrow, Professor Jonathan Crane and realized how much bedlam his boost ability could unleash on my swarm. Shiny Purple screams echoed down the hall. Luckily, I was able to bring two more Army Sentinel characters into play and activate Senator Kelly three times on turn 5 prior to my attacks. The match ended before the horror began.
Curve Sentinels, of course, was the second tier 1 Sentinel deck in history. It was the first Shiny Purple configuration to climb to the very top of the Vs. System metagame. Scarecrow, Fearmonger looks to bring that deck down. Taking away Nimrod’s counter is only the beginning of the fear—allowing Arkham Inmates to build a tier 1 deck may be too terrifying to imagine. Just as the childhood Jonathan Crane delighted in torturing the pigeons in his backyard, Scarecrow, Fearmonger promises to kill two birds with one stone.
Try not to be afraid.
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